The Headache
by paperspiral
Summary: Sabretooth/OC. Sabretooth is having mysterious and persisting headaches. While my Victor/Emma stories don't proceed on a timeline, if you want to read them in written order this is story 2.
1. Chapter 1

Marvel owns the rights to Sabretooth & Birdy, all others are my creation.

Reviews and constructive criticism welcome.

Creed had been in a lot of different types of pain before, cut off limbs, bullets to the chest, and nut shots, but nothing quite compared to a headache. A pain burrowed deep inside his temples and forehead that he couldn't get at to touch, it drove him insane. He was wide wake, lying in bed with Emma turned away from him. Her naked back healing his claw marks from their lovemaking earlier in the evening. When did he start to consider sex lovemaking? He had no patience for semantics right now. She was snoring softly and he hated her for it. The pain in his left temple was starting to blur his vision. Before he could stop himself, he reached out and punched her in the back in the rib cage. It made an effective thud but wouldn't hurt her so much as awaken her, which she did.

"What the fuck?" Emma rolled over irritably and faced him. Creed didn't answer as she wiped sleep from her green eyes. Adjusting the sheets in the enormous bed, she inched closer into his arms and noted the scowl written all over his face. "Headache?" She took the grinding of his teeth as a yes. Gently, she brushed the wispy light blond baby hair from his temple while pulling herself up on an elbow. "Want a pain killer?" Her answer was a strong exhale through his nose.

Naked, Emma slipped off her side of the bed and quietly plodded to the bathroom where she didn't turn on the light until the door was closed behind her as not to aggravate his pain. Healing factor or no, nothing seemed to help his headaches except good, old-fashioned extra-strength Advil. She popped the cap and shook out two capsules, turned out the lights and grabbed a bottle of water from the mini fridge for such occasions so they wouldn't have to make their way to the kitchen on the other side of the mini-mansion.

His eyes were closed, trying to shut out of the aching. Emma cracked the top of the bottle and handed it to him. He took a sip, then a mouthful of water. She handed him the pills and he added them to his mouthful, swallowing both in one go then clearing his throat. Emma took the bottle back, tightened the cap, and put it on his side of the bed. Crawling back into bed, she adjusted the covers and willed him to fall asleep.

Eventually he did and his snoring was enough to give her a headache. Emma was wide awake now. She sat frustrated in the middle of her side of the bed for a few minutes torn between an active mind and a tired body. She left the bed for the second time that night and found some yoga pants and a thick tee-shirt on the back of her chair by the window where she liked to read books and apparently leave her laundry. She grabbed a pair of fuzzy socks Birdy had given to her the Christmas before and made a quiet escape down to the kitchen.

The light was on and Birdy was doing her best to quietly load the dishwasher. Even being on the other side of the house, Victor's super hearing could pick up on the tickling of ceramic plates and he would be immensely pissed if he was disturbed in the middle of the night. Birdy looked up in surprised as Emma walked in, they were both in comfy night clothes, looking like they had been sleeping only an hour earlier.

"Hey." Emma whispered.

"I forgot to run the dishes before bed." Birdy gave a lop-sided smile. Creed had been more temperamental than usual and little things were setting him off. Normally he wouldn't care about dishes so long as breakfast was ready, but Emma knew Birdy wasn't going to take a chance. "What's your excuse?"

"He had another headache and I couldn't get back to sleep."

Birdy nodded and slipped in one fork at a time into the utensil baskets. She stopped then. "Do you think I should run the dishwasher then? I don't want to wake him if he just got back to sleep." Birdy had beautiful, clear blue eyes that understood a lot more than they let on. Her blond hair was usually tied in a ponytail on top of her head for convenience, but as she had just been sleeping, it was down around her shoulders, cascading down her back.

"You know what, go back to bed, I'll run it. Let him be mad at me if it wakes him." Emma waved off the other woman's concern. "I'm going to rummage around for food anyway."

Birdy approached her and gave her a hug. "You're some kinda saint, you know that?" She laughed with relief.

As Birdy made her way to her room, Emma pulled open the pantry cupboards looking for 3 a.m. snacking candidates. Clearly she would have to go grocery shopping in the morning specifically to find munchies in the event that this situation becomes a habit.

She was craving comfort food so gave in and began boiling linguine and pulling some leftover shrimp from the fridge. Melted butter, fresh parsley, garlic and capers later, she was eating Shrimp Scampi at the kitchen island when the door swung open and Victor was standing there in striped pyjama bottoms and looking a bit rough around the edges.

"Did I wake you?" Emma asked as he padded barefoot across the linoleum toward her. She twirled some pasta around her fork and pricked a shrimp on the end then offered it up to him. Creed accepted and chewed slowly, his gaze softly focused on the counter.

"I woke up 'cuz you weren't there." _It must have been awful around here while I was gone then_, Emma thought to herself.

He pulled open a drawer and found himself a fork, pulled an island stool up beside her and helped himself to her midnight snack. Emma picked at some capers in between bites before asking, "Are you alright?"

His green eyes were sharp now, and looked at her while chewing through another bite of the Scampi. "What d'you mean?"

"This is your third headache in two weeks, and they're bad enough that you have to take something." The pasta was gone and both of them felt a grumble of disappointment from their stomachs.

"Weird, innit?" He let her take his fork and put the dishes in the dishwasher before adding soap and turning it on.

It remained unspoken that Creed wasn't sure what was wrong but he would not take any suggestions from her. "Well, if you need anything, just let me know."

"I need ya t'come to bed." He picked her up as though she were nothing but a pillow and brought her upstairs with him and back into bed where he was asleep again within minutes, but Emma was still wide awake.


	2. Chapter 2

Marvel owns the rights to Sabretooth & Birdy, all others are my creation.

Reviews and constructive criticism welcome.

Creed's eyes opened slowly and came to focus on Emma. She was sitting against the large wooden headboard with a pillow propped behind her back and one on her lap. She was twining thin gray yarn among her fingers and tiny double pointed needles. She hadn't noticed he was awake yet and was quietly talking to herself. He listened to her for a while enjoying the moment of normalcy.

"Good morning, sweetheart." Emma murmured, noticing his breathing had changed. He growled at her choice of affectionate nickname.

"Get me a coffee, will ya?" Victor sat up and ran his claws through his hair, messing it up worse than sleeping had done. "An' make sure Birdy was the one ta make it? Your coffee sucks." He lifted himself up out of bed and padded to the washroom, leaving it wide open as he lifted the toilet seat.

"Have I told you 'I love you' this morning?" Emma put her knitting aside, followed him out of bed, and leaned against the door frame of the bathroom.

"No." He replied over the sound of urine hitting the water.

"Really? I wonder why." Emma picked up a light blue robe and wrapped it around herself.

"Well feel free t'do so now." The flush came and Creed appeared behind her.

"Maybe after you wash your hands." She gave him a beautiful smile then headed downstairs to greet Birdy and start breakfast.

oooooo

Birdy had already rolled her suitcase out to the front door when Emma came down the stairs. Creed had business is Ohio this fine morning and their plane was due to leave in only a few hours. At first it had made her jealous that his assistant would accompany him on these trips while leaving her at home alone, especially when she was not blind to the fact that Birdy was very attractive, but after a few months and no indications that an affair was taking place behind her back, Emma had to learn to relax and trust her husband, at least in this. Emma was not stupid and knew Victor had slept with other women during their marriage, and may still be doing so, but Birdy was not one of them, and for that she was thankful.

"I have something for you." Emma tossed her a bottle of pain killers.

"Funny, I have something for you too." Birdy handed her a travel mug of steaming coffee, just as Victor liked it. "Is he up and ready to go?" They both heard the shower start from upstairs and no answer was needed. "Any plans while we're away?"

"Nothing fun, I have to get to paying the bills and sorting through our paperwork. Sometimes I hate being a grown up." Emma curled up on the steps leading to the second floor. The carpets on the staircase were annually replaced due to the large volume of blood they seemed to accrue during the year. This year, while she was away, Victor had chosen red shag carpeting. It most likely decreased the value of the house, but it was rather comfortable on bare feet. She took a few sips from his coffee.

"I hear ya, but the good news is – you can afford to buy your own candy." It was a bad joke but they laughed anyway. The shower stopped.

"The maid will be here soon and I want him out of the house. He's scared off all of the help except the gardeners and I'm running out of places to call. Do you need any help?"

Birdy shook her head no. "I'll just start loading the car – actually, if you want to grab the stuff on the kitchen counter, I made breakfast to go for both of us." As she opened the front door and made her way to the understated blue Camry parked out front in the roundabout, Emma went for the travel mug of some weird smoothie concoction Birdy enjoyed drinking in the mornings and what looked like two bagel sandwiches. When she exited, Victor was walking down the stairs towel drying his hair and gripping a duffel bag.

"Coffee?" He grunted at her and left the towel at the foot of the steps. She obliged with a bit of shuffling as Birdy ducked in and took his bag from him.

"Call me when you arrive?" Emma said to both of them as they piled into the car. Creed sat in the passenger seat today and was already ripping into one of the bagels.

"Yeah, yeah. You just be here when I get back." His usual parting words. The car took off around the fountain and out the gated entrance to the property.

oooooo

Emma worked at her desk in the office that was located between the two staircases that led to upstairs. It sat facing the large double door entrance to the mansion so that she could keep track of the comings and goings in the house. At least that was the intention when she and Victor had first bought the place and she had still held out hope for children. Her body just did not see eye to eye about that part. She had had many miscarriages, more than her husband probably even knew about. Finally, about two years ago, she had decided that her healing factor treated a pregnancy like a cold, and fought it off, however she had never verified her theory.

At the desk, she was setting up accounts through her bank to pay major creditors and do away with mailing in checks every month to pay for hydro bills and the like. She opened the mail that had collected in the past few days. Last month, she had killed a man by shooting shrapnel into his heart with a fancy pen, today, she was clipping coupons for laundry detergent. Emma put down the flyers and with her head in her hands, let out a long and painful sigh.

The phone began to ring beside her and she wouldn't have answered it had the call display not said it was Birdy's mobile calling.

"Yes?" Emma asked wearily into the receiver.

"Em? Ah – we've had a bit of a situation." Birdy sounded a bit high pitched from anxiety. They were supposed to have landed back in Vancouver an hour ago.

"Is there a delay?"

"Sort of. Mister Creed's been detained. He's going to be in lock up for three days and has to pay a fine."

She lowered her head against the cool wood of the desk a moment before replying, "What happened exactly?" Creed had a nasty temper, but he was rational enough to know that causing a ruckus on the plane could get him banned from flying, which meant no work.

"Well he didn't say anything to me, but I guess he was having another headache at the time. Anyway there were some kids on the plane a few rows behind us being loud and rowdy and Mister Creed just sort of snapped. The police were called in to meet us at the gate even though I got him to calm down by, um, knocking him out with a mental blast, but they won't let him fly again for six months." Birdy was calming down slowly.

"Come on home then, we have three days to figure something out." Emma gave a second sigh that afternoon as she hung up the phone. She was sure Victor would be good while in lock up as not to increase the charges and elongating his ban from flying, though she would bet anything he would be quite unpleasant to deal with once he arrived home.


	3. Chapter 3

Marvel owns the rights to Sabretooth & Birdy, all others are my creation.

Reviews and constructive criticism welcome.

The next three days had passed quicker than she would have liked and Emma found herself sitting in the waiting area of the police station where Victor was signing himself out of lock up. It wasn't as busy in the office as TV made things seem. It had not been her first time to this particular station but in every case, it had been rather quiet. Creed looked disheveled with his hair sticking out at odd angles, bags under his eyes, and his button shirt collar pulled open and askew.

He grabbed his bag from off the front desk and glared at her as he approached fast, waving at her to get going ahead of him and start the car. He slammed the car door behind him and Emma could feel the anger rolling off of him. She put it in gear and tore off down the road heading in the general direction of the house but she pulled over to the shoulder once the houses started to become far and fewer in between and were replaced with trees. Emma had barely shut the engine off when Creed pushed himself out of the car. She caught the shirt that he tore open and threw in her direction, followed by his tie. He kicked his shoes off and ripped at his socks.

"Wallet and keys?" Emma snapped her fingers at him and he emptied his pockets for her on top of the car. She approached him and he bowed down a little to let her kiss his cheek. "Now don't bring anything home with you for dinner. I'll take care of that. See you at home."

Creed took off in a shot, running full-barreled into the woods. A cloud of crows took off from within and squawked noisily at being disturbed. She heard a guttural roar from the dark pines a few moments later. Living in the city, this was his only outlet close to home to return to nature and let the beast within him out. He could let his anger flow unguarded, tear out trees, even hunt wolves or if he was lucky, fight bears. His savage romps through the forest had become a county legend among children and adults alike, but unlike Sasquatch, he had yet to be caught on camera traipsing through the woods.

Emma hoped absent mindedly that he wouldn't get too cold out there. Winter was just around the corner and the nights were getting chilly. She started the car and put it in drive.

oooooo

Birdy sat on the couch next to the fire place with a glass of red wine in her hand. The couch was soft and deep. A girl could get lost in it easily, which she was trying her best to do at the moment. She took a deep sip as Emma reached the bottom of the staircase and made her way through the hallway toward the large family room.

"Laundry's in the dryer now. Should we start dinner or wait a bit?" Emma picked up her own glass and moved toward the fire place to set the logs in.

"It's only been an hour, I'm sure he's pretty cranky. Besides, I can't sense him anywhere around here." Birdy sighed content and stretched out along the couch.

"Sounds like a plan." Emma stoked the flames of the kindling and trying to convince the log to ignite. They were quiet for a while, enjoying the fire and the silence. "Birdy?"

"Hmm?" Her eyes fluttered open as though she had been lightly sleeping.

"The next time you give him _the glow_, could you quietly check him out? See if there's anything that might give him a reason to have these headaches?" What Emma was asking was dangerous. Creed was particularly observant of her actions when inside his head. Being discreet about poking around his thoughts and memories was nearly impossible.

Birdy stared at her incredulously. "I-I can't. I know you've stuck up for me, and kept me from getting ripped in two a million times over, but I can't. He wouldn't let me live if I went snooping _in his head_."

"I know, you're right. I'm sorry to have asked. I just don't know what to do about all this." Emma sighed and rubbed her forehead against her palm.

After a moment Birdy replied, "Why don't we rule out the physical first, if we're really stumped, maybe I'll take a quick peek next time I'm around?"

"Thanks." She smiled. The fire crackled in the silence that once again surrounded them.

Birdy skimmed Emma's thoughts then, just gently so that it seemed no more than ripple across her mind. She picked up worry, love, frustration and something else, maybe a hint of being tired of her life. "How do you love him?" She asked suddenly.

Emma looked up from her wine. There was a long silence and Birdy could tell she was searching for an answer. "I don't know how to answer that. I just do."

"Sorry, that sounded so rude." The blonde cringed, afraid she might have hurt her friend's feelings.

"It's a valid question." Emma only smiled, looking back into her wine glass. "I should get dinner started." And she made her way softly to the kitchen to leave Birdy alone by the fire.

oooooo

Victor hadn't come home for dinner. His plate sat in the fridge as Birdy slept upstairs and Emma sat at her desk in the lamp light, clicking around the internet. It was close to midnight now and the snow had begun falling an hour earlier. It looked like it might be the kind to stay even though it was only November. It was coming down thick and fluffy, covering everything it touched. The ground had already been frozen for a few weeks and the trees were long bare. Animals had begun to hibernate but Winter never stayed too long in BC.

She heard a soft scraping at the front door and remembered that Victor didn't have his keys. She waiting for him to find the spare but he was taking longer than usual. Emma pushed her chair back and went to unlock the front door. Creed stood on the porch, dry blood pin pricked over his arms, face and chest from the brush and brambles in the woods. His pants were ripped, and he had a fine layer of snow settling in his hair. He was a few feet away from the door, leaning his head into the brick exterior of the house, coming down from his feral evening.

"Hungry?" She stepped out onto the frigid porch and wrapped her hand in his. For a moment, he squeezed back.

"Get back inside, it's freezin' out here." Creed pulled himself together and pushed her back toward the door, shutting it behind them both. They made their way to the kitchen where Emma had left out a fresh zip hoodie for his return, which he donned immediately. The microwave hummed as it warmed up his portion of that night's enchiladas, the spicy smell warming his stomach. "I saw a timbre wolf while I was out there, maybe three miles out west." He mumbled, rubbing the neck of his fork, waiting for his food.

Emma made noises to indicate she was listening. She brought the plate to him at the largish breakfast table by the bay window of the kitchen and sat down beside him. "Did you have a good run?" Creed grunted a response as he ate through his dinner. "Do you want me to run a bath for you?" He grunted in the negative, still eating. "How's your head?" She reached out to touch him at the temple, but he cut her off with a defensive roar and knocked her arm away with his own. "Alright, no need to get pissy." Emma left the table irritated with him and left to go upstairs by herself.

It didn't take long for Victor to finish eating and make his way up after her. He stood in the shower for twenty minutes, letting the water hit him and massage his neck and shoulders. She could hear him cracking various joints as she lay in bed curled up on her side. The noise of him brushing his teeth seemed to last forever until finally he flicked the light off with a clawed finger and crawled into bed beside her. His hands snaked around her frame and pulled her in close to him. He smelled like soap and mint and his body was still hot from the shower. His way of apology was always with these little intimacies and never with words. He breathed into her hair and tightened his arm around her slightly.

"Birdy asked me today how I could love you." Emma confided once her irritation dissipated.

"Oh? I hope it's cuz of my infallible sense of direction." Victor smiled into her hair.

"Why do you love me?" She rolled over and look him in the eye. They generally didn't talk this way, the honeymoon phase long over between them.

Creed stared at her a moment, possibly wondering how she couldn't possibly know by now. "Well, because yer mine."


	4. Chapter 4

Marvel owns the rights to Sabretooth & Birdy, all others are my creation.

Reviews and constructive criticism welcome.

Creed was out back, enjoying the breeze of the late afternoon air. He needed to get away from Emma, she was making him soft the last three months while he was cooped up in the house, unable to fly the airlines. He should just get himself a private jet.

He was sitting on his haunches in the February snow. His heavy winter boots unnecessary but were a Christmas gift from his wife. They were fur lined and warm. He leaned forward and cracked the thin ice of the man made pond with a sharp rap of his claw. It split the opaque glass-like covering into a spider web shape. Seeing it broken seemed to cheer him up.

The headaches had become less frequent now, but were still evident. They seemed to come without warning and without cause. Emma had caught him a few times using his claws to dig into his own head. The last time this had happened Emma left the room for a moment only to return with the meat cleaver, pulled his hand away from his temple onto the coffee table and broke three of his finger with a sharp smash. He had of course returned the favor by grabbing her by the throat and choking her until she fell unconscious, but the pain of his headache was effectively diverted while his hand healed. Regardless, she had chosen to sleep in one of the spare bedrooms that night. They were still not talking and it made him feel just the slightest tinge of guilt.

Thus he was here.

More snow was coming. He could smell it in the air. The wind was picking up and the squirrels among the trees surrounding him were chattering away at each other. He pulled himself up and started to walk to the back of the property, deeper into the trees. He met the tall stone wall built for security, hidden among the brush so looking out from the house, you couldn't tell where the yard terminated. Victor had wanted more acreage but acknowledged the value of security and keeping a smaller area safe was easier. Besides, he still had a cabin out in the wilderness of Alberta without borders as he owned most of the land that surrounded it and there were no neighbours for miles. He had bought it all decades ago for pennies compared to today's standards. He hadn't even changed a thing about the cabin, which made Emma a little reticent to visit it since she would be forced to use the outhouse that stood a good handful of yards away. It was swarming with mosquitoes in the summer and freezing in the winter, and bears lurked around during the time in between.

Creed chuckled to himself remembering once, while Emma has been pregnant, they had visited the cabin in the early winter. The baby had sat on her bladder making bathroom trips frequent. She would have to get up a few times in the night to use the outhouse and she would wake him up to escort her out. They had lost that child, a boy, very soon after that. Victor's thoughts turned dark. Emma didn't know this, but even though it had been years since then he still blamed himself for the death of his son. He never should have taken her out there in the first place.

She had the smell of pregnancy again but he refused to get his hopes up anymore. They hadn't yet had one live birth in all their years – his son had been the closest they had come at seven and a half months. She must have stopped taking her birth control sometime after coming home with him. That pleased him but now it was a waiting game. Did she even know she was pregnant again? Creed suspected so, how any woman could not sense her own body's change was beyond him.

The sun was low in the sky and a chill was kicking up with the ever increasing wind. There would be a storm tonight. He caught Emma's soft knock against the glass sliding door to the back letting him know dinner was almost ready. He felt a twinge in his temple again and wondered if another headache was coming on or if it was only a figment of his imagination. He prayed the latter and then, almost as an afterthought, prayed for a healthy child.

Victor trudged up to the house through the thin blanket of snow and peeked into one of the kitchen windows where Emma was working. She looked up at him, the marks on her neck he had left, before he caught the smell of a child inside her, were healing well. Her healing factor was sluggish in this instance – it then occurred to him that maybe it was busy fighting off foreign bodies elsewhere in her body. Emma seemed to become really concerned, looking at him through the glass then, and he realized his expression had turned sad without him noticing.

ooooooo

Creed left his boots at the back door, the snow melting off of them. It had turned dark out very quickly once he came in. The wind was howling now and snow was beginning to come down. He picked at his bean soup, which he only ate to make Emma happy. Birdy was away on a date that evening so it was only the two of them eating at the kitchen table.

Emma had been surreptitiously watching him play with his food before clearing her throat and putting her spoon down. "It's too salty." She said quietly. Creed nodded. She pushed back her chair and removed both their bowls and dumped them down the garbage disposal, loaded them into the dishwasher, then plated the roast beef and mashed potatoes. Emma sat back down after serving him, and added a generous amount of gravy over her food.

Creed continued to pick at his plate.

"Too dry?" Emma asked.

"It's fine." He muttered and took a bite to shut her up. It was too dry. He added gravy. "When are ya going to the gyno?"

She wasn't surprised that he knew without them saying a word, but it didn't make her feel any better if this was the reason for his morose mood. "I haven't called yet."

"Well do that, would ya?" Creed barked at her.

"Is this why you're so damn cranky? Because I'm pregnant?"

Creed slammed his hand down on the table, it shook so hard that the salt shaker jumped about two inches. "Just get me some friggin' Advil?" He recoiled his hand to rub his eyes.

Emma obliged him but said over her shoulder as she reached up in the cabinet over the fridge, "I want you to go see a doctor."

"No! No doctors." He grumbled.

"Victor – "

"No doctors!" Creed yelled at her, his eyes red from rubbing.

"Victor!" She snapped back to get his attention. "Your nose is bleeding." Emma walked over with a tissue box and the Advil. Creed felt a healthy drip make its way from his nose, down around his mouth, and settle around his chin. It itched. He snatched up a few tissues and wiped at his face. "No, you're going to have to wash your face." Emma said as the blood smeared into his skin, making it look like an oddly situated blush on his left side.

"Has it stopped?" He pulled the tissues away from his nose for her to take a good look.

"I think your healing factor may have staunched it." With a nod, he grabbed the Advil bottle and shook out some pills. He was up to three now, which he swallowed with a mouthful of milk while ignoring Emma's frown.

"I ain't goin' to the doctor." He growled and handed her his bloody tissues so that he could continue to eat his dinner.


	5. Chapter 5

Marvel owns the rights to Sabretooth & Birdy, all others are my creation.

Reviews and constructive criticism welcome.

It had been six months minus two weeks since Victor was banned from flying and the time he spent in the house was wearing all three of its occupants thin. The pregnancy had terminated itself almost without pain the month before, leaving him crankier than was normal, but this would pass, as it always did. Emma bore it well, she had learned – they both did, not to get attached. She had bounced back by giving him a hair cut and a shave. He indulged her so long as it stopped before a manicure or giving him a fashion make over.

Instead she focused more in the kitchen. Her coffee improved and he had had beef bourguignon for the first time since the seventies. Tonight's dinner was a different matter and he wasn't quite sure what was sitting in front of him.

"What exactly is a 'falafel'?" He grumbled as he sunk a claw into the ball made of chickpeas and raised it up to eye level.

"Just put it back into the pita and eat your dinner." Emma served Birdy then sat at her end of the table.

"Where's the meat?" Creed's brow furrowed when he realized there were no other components of the meal being served.

"It's in your head." Birdy snorted her milk at Emma's comment. She knew this wouldn't go over well with him but decided to suit herself and make a meal she wanted to eat instead of catering to him for once.

Creed stood up and left the kitchen table through the swinging door. Emma called after him asking where he was going. He replied, "Out! Don't expect me back 'til there's meat in my dinner!" The front door slammed, shaking the front of the house.

"He took that rather well, I think." Birdy commented and bit into her own dinner.

Emma suddenly had a pull to follow her husband out, usually this happened, like a premonition, if there was trouble. She couldn't explain why it happened or whether it was actually anything more than a keen sense of intuition, but she had learned long ago to trust it. She got up from the table and made her way out to the garage via the front door.

Victor lay in the driveway having what looked to be a seizure. Emma yelled through the house at Birdy to call an ambulance before running to him. Her knee hit a puddle of his urine as she knelt beside him. She couldn't remember what do to in such a case so hoping she was right, she tried to stabilize his head and make sure he didn't hurt himself.

Birdy came tearing out of the house with a phone in hand, she was talking a mile a minute in her high pitched anxious voice, standing over them both until the call ended. Emma asked her to get a bag ready for him to take to the hospital to occupy her before the ambulance got there. She complied and opened the gate to the driveway as she ran upstairs.

When he came out of it, he was going to be rather embarrassed at pissing himself.

ooooooo

The emergency room was loud and over crowded. There were too many crying kids and not enough air circulation. They waited like everyone else while Victor was seen behind some curtain. The magazines left out for patrons where either nearly destroyed, or older than 1988.

"I'm going to get a soda, want one?" Emma stood up and cracked her back. It had been almost two hours and no one could be found to get an update on his condition. Birdy shook her head no, the bag of Creed's clothes at her feet and a book in her hand. "Alright, I'll be back shortly."

Emma wandered down a hall that was emptier than the waiting room, not sure where to go to find something to eat but wanting to get away from the chaos. She found herself down a hallway where a nurse or orderly popped into rooms now and again but was generally deserted. There were no patients down this wing, only offices and file rooms. She found the pharmacy as she made her way slowly. The end of the hallway held no vending machines but there was a bank of chairs so she sat.

Eventually she was found by a doctor in her mid-thirties, Birdy had sent her a mental warning that someone was looking for her. Emma stood up but the doctor came to her.

"Mrs. Creed?" Emma nodded, not bothering to correct the fact that she always went by her maiden name. It was trivial at the moment. "I can take you to your husband in a minute. We're still not sure what caused his seizure and he's being less than cooperative."

"I imagine you're trying to be polite."

"We gave him a shot of Haldol to calm him down but it didn't work. My colleague wants you to sign a waiver to give him something stronger but I wanted to see if maybe you could calm him down first." Her badge read Dr. Armend.

"I'll see what I can do." Emma smirked. "Did he tell you about his headaches and the nose bleeds?" They walked together slowly back down the hall, past the waiting room and Birdy, and down a busier corridor. Armend stopped at this.

"No…but as I said, he hasn't been particularly helpful." She took out a beat up note pad from a pocket of her scrubs and started asking Emma questions about the incidents.

"Emma? EMMA!" They were only three feet from Victor's room. Armend motioned for her to enter even as she continued to write on her note pad. Emma had to dodge a flying bedpan to the head as she passed the doorway. Victor's left arm was quickly put into restraints by three orderlies and two security guards. The rest of him had already been strapped down before she got there.

"This is about as cooperative as he gets." Emma confided to the doctor. It was true. Creed could easily break through the heavy duty Velcro straps used to secure dangerous patients. The fact that he didn't, though he was clearly seething in anger, led her to believe he was going to comply with treatment.

"You dirty bitch!" He snarled.

"Can we have a minute?" Emma asked the room. Everyone looked at each other, all hesitant to leave her alone with a clearly pissed off spouse, but finally Dr. Armend agreed and asked everyone to leave. "Thanks." She waved.

"I'm gonna rip out yer throat with my TEETH!" Creed's eyes were completely white from his anger boiling over. Calming him down would be tricky.

She sat on his bedside, out of reach of his claws, and put a hand on his abdomen while watching him. For about fifteen minutes he growled and cursed at her until finally he lay still, his green eyes returning, and only glared at her.

"You had a seizure. I didn't know what else to do."

"I have a healing factor that's jacked up like crazy –"

"I don't want you to die!"

"I ain't dyin' over a headache!"

"So what the hell is going on?" Emma's voice was just below a yell of frustration. Victor had no response for her.

"Yer still a dirty bitch." He muttered, agreeing to stay in the hospital a bit longer for tests.

"Fine, let's just get you better." Emma replied exasperated.


	6. Chapter 6

Marvel owns the rights to Sabretooth & Birdy, all others are my creation.

Reviews and constructive criticism welcome.

Victor was not a patient man. He had not been able to fall asleep in the hospital bed. The smell of bleach and disinfectants hurt his nose and everything smelled like plastic. He had no books or magazines and he only got the Home Shopping Network on the tiny TV hanging from the ceiling. The only positive he could see was that he was the only occupant in the room. His bed squeaked of plastic sheets as he leaned over and picked up the phone again.

"Victor – you have to stop calling me." Emma mumbled into his ear, clearly irritated at having been awakened.

"If I can't sleep, you ain't gonna either!" He barked. "Bring me some magazines…and a cheeseburger or five."

"What?" Emma talked into the pillow. "No. Visiting hours aren't for –" she paused while checking the clock, "another five hours. They won't let me see you."

"Find a way." He hung up on her with a clang of the phone and leaned back in bed. He found red droplets on his hospital gown, his nose had begun bleeding again. Sighing, he grabbed a handful of tissues and tried to mop up most of the mess. If he didn't love her so damn much….a thought occurred, if it wasn't for Emma, he would probably be running around naked in the woods, free from society. He grinned to himself, enjoying the idea.

A nurse quietly opened his door, he had heard her making her way down the hall, checking in on patients before she had even rounded the corner. She saw he was trying to stop his nose bleed but before she could even speak a word, Creed growled, "Fuck off, lady." The nurse, taken aback, complied and left swiftly from his room.

He didn't want to admit it, but he was beginning to worry. Creed pulled the tissues away to inspect them then toss them in the waste basket. _Yer fallin' apart, Old Man,_ he thought to himself. He moved off the bed, letting the cold tiles shock his feet, then made his way to the private washroom to relieve himself and wash his face. His backside was feeling the chill of the open air, but he was not known for his modesty.

The clock told him only twenty minutes had passed and a grumble escaped him, upset that he was so far away from the comforts of his own home. It would be a while yet until Emma found a way into the hospital, she was probably still leaving the house, a good drive away. He began to pace, but when the small space became too cramped for him, he opened his door and began to walk the length of the hallway. It was empty except for a few moans of pain coming from one of his neighbours.

Occasionally he would peer into a room through the sliver of glass. Mostly he saw curtains. He bowed slightly to peer into the window of the room across the hall from his as he made his way back. There was a little boy of about five or six, staring out the window, clutching a teddy. The child didn't even hear the door open or shut and only noticed the big, hulking, feral mutant until Victor was standing at the foot of his bed.

The boy didn't make a sound but tightened his grip around the neck of the bear and smooshed it into his face, big brown eyes staring at Creed in fear.

"Why ain't'cha sleepin', kid." Creed enjoyed the scent of terror that was filling the air.

"Scared." The boy squeaked. Creed gave him a funny look before asking why. "I don't wanna die." The bear was lowered slowly from his face as something inherent told him that Victor was only a man, not a monster. His innocence allowed him feel safe with an adult.

"Everyone dies, kid." He had crawled onto the end of the bed cross-legged and hunkered over the child.

"My grandma died in her sleep, I want to be awake." He was tearing at the ears of the teddy, not really looking at the behemoth sitting on his bed.

"In yer sleep is the best way to go, all peaceful like. Won't hurt, ya won't be scared." Little did the boy know, Creed spoke from experience, mostly as the bringer of death, and none of his victims had had the luxury of dying peacefully or in their sleep.

The child still seemed unsure.

"What'cha in for?"

"My tonsils." Creed couldn't help but laugh loudly at this, bringing the nurse he had sworn at earlier to the door.

"Mr. Creed? I need to ask you to go back to your room." She frowned sternly at him. "Matthew needs his sleep."

Creed waved her off but slowly got up from the bed. He put a hand on Matthew's head, it nearly covered him completely, and bent down to whisper, "Nobody dies from tonsils, kid. It's me ya gotta worry about." And he grinned his toothy, fanged grin that clearly said he was up to no good. The boy finally saw the glint of Creed's claws in the moonlight as he left the room. Matthew raised the bear up again and crawled deeper under his covers.

The nurse shut the door quietly and then followed Victor back to his own room. She also shut the door behind him with a sharp snap and a frown. Stuck again, he sat on his bed, the covers pulled up and scattered across the plastic mattress. Suddenly a tapping at his window caught his attention.

Emma was perched on the very narrow ledge outside wearing dark-wash jeans and black heeled boots with a red tank top and a black leather jacket over top. To him, she looked mischievous and beautiful. She tapped again and he got up to open the window and pull out the screen. Emma slinked through the opening and dropped the ground as he put the screen back in place.

"How the hell did you get up here?" He gaped at her. It was cake for him, but Emma had never shown any prowess for climbing unscaleble facades.

"It's only three storeys." She gave him a show off grin as she caught her breath. She pulled off a small backpack and unzipped it on his bed, but Creed had other things in mind when he wrapped himself around her and started to nuzzle her neck. She tried to get away from him but he was quite intent now that he was aroused. "I don't want to have sex with you in a hospital!" She whispered, turning around to face him, pinned against the bed.

"I'm not really givin' you a choice." He bullied her into the bathroom and shut the door firmly behind them. Emma was knocked onto the counter and hit her head against the wall. It was cramped. Creed tore away his cheap gown and went for her jeans, slapping her hands away every time she tried to interfere.

He made good on his word and didn't give her much choice or warning as he pushed into her. She let out a small squeak of pain and dug her fingers deep into his shoulders, then her teeth. Victor reveled in the sensation of being bitten and pushed in farther, making her cry out again. It was getting easier and Emma was finally trying to get her legs around his waist, but he was working feverently now. The end came swift and loudly. Creed could smell that the nurse had entered his room but, realizing the situation, had turned around and left. Smart broad.

His thighs shook and he breathed in the smell of her, pinned to the wall against his hard body, she was breathing heavily too. Emma turned to face him and kissed his jaw. "Miss me?"

"Naw, I just really like cheeseburgers." He pulled out and grabbed a washcloth from the cheap metal rack above the toilet to clean himself off with. She swatted his backside and bent down to find her jeans and underwear. They traded stations at the sink until both were relatively cleaned and dressed. Emma pushed the door open and breathed in the night air from the open window.

Creed rifled through her backpack and put the burgers into a pile on the little wheeled table that sat beside his bed. She had brought him two magazines, the first was the current National Geographic, and the second was a gamer magazine. He had little interest in either, but Emma's problem had been that he had little interest in much of the selection of gas station reading, save for the porn. There was a book at the bottom of the bag, a tattered copy of Memoirs of a Geisha.

"Are you kiddin'?" He held the book up over his shoulder.

"It's one of my favourites, shut up." Emma was eating one of the cheeseburgers from the wrapper as she leaned against the window frame.

The nurse was back again and didn't knock as she swung open the door. "Mr. Creed, if I have to come back here one more time tonight –"

"You'll what?" It was Emma who turned nasty this time, shocking both the nurse and Creed. "Get out of here, I'll take care of my husband, thank you." For the last time that night, the nurse left the room speechless.

"What was that?" He grabbed a burger and stared at her.

"She was a total bitch to me yesterday." Emma shrugged and took another bite.


	7. Chapter 7

Marvel owns the rights to Sabretooth & Birdy, all others are my creation.

Reviews and constructive criticism welcome.

The ticking of the clock on the wall was driving him mad. He was lying on a metal bed attachment of a giant chamber machine in a room three floors away from his own while a handful of doctors discussed him in what was supposed to be a sound-proof room. Creed could hear them just fine if he turned up his hearing. It was making him uneasy knowing that there were so many of them for what they explained as a simple MRI scan. They weren't talking about anything significant at the moment, only his vitals and history. Instead, he turned his hearing to Emma, who sat in the hall – she wasn't permitted to wait with him. She was reading the book she had brought him the night before, he could hear her turn the pages. Her heart beat just a bit faster than usual. She was nervous about something. It took him a while to realize she was worried about him.

Finally one of the older doctors emerged from the room connected to the one he was in and approached Creed, who was strapped down to the table.

"Now Mr. Creed, you understand the risks involved? I have your signed consent here." The man didn't wait for a response. "Do you have any metal on your person? Any implants or joint replacements?"

"Not to my knowledge." Creed replied cautiously. To be frank, he had no idea what was in his body. This didn't seem to concern the doctor though.

"Alright, the machine is rather loud and scary but I assure you, it won't hurt while it takes a full body scan." He tightened the restraints and reminded the patient not to move while in the chamber. Creed growled at the order but remained still as the bed eased its way back into the machine, taking him with it.

It was cramped in there and he has to turn his hearing down low as the machine began to warm up. Then there were loud bangs and bright lights. Something gurgled inside of him and then there was pain. A lot of it.

ooooooo

Emma had never heard a sound such as the one coming from the MRI room come from Victor before. It terrified her. The book she was reading spilled from her hands as she ran to see him. The doctors had already shut the machine off and were attending him.

Victor has broken from the restraints and was fighting them off. He was nearly head to toe covered in blood and he was missing his left eye. Getting free from the bed, he cornered a few of the doctors who made the mistake of backing into a dead end in the room. The older doctor who had told him the scan wouldn't hurt had pulled an alarm for security making things more confusing and loud than useful.

"Stop!" Shouted one of the cornered doctors. She was crying even before Creed had had the chance to give her a reason. Emma looped her arms around the one of his that was raised and ready to maim. They wrestled a bit until she barked at him to relax.

Something caught her eye about the blood he was covered in. With a shaking hand, Emma reached out and pulled a shard of metal from Victor's chest. She held it up to him questioningly. "You've been shot through with shrapnel. You do know that an MRI machine is a giant magnet, right?" She was angry now, like it was _his_ fault or something.

Creed snarled at her and ripped his arm away. Security had arrived by then and were swarming the room. They tried to subdue him but as always, Victor had the upper hand in the fight. That's when an orderly ran in and handed a suspiciously large needle to the older doctor, which he proceeded to sink the tip of into Creed's thigh.

Emma watched as the drug hit him. He staggered for a moment before dropping to his knees like a ton of bricks. The whole crowd helped lift him onto a gurney and tied him down. He tried growling but in his weakened state, the noise sounds much more like mewling. His breathing was very laboured and conscious so an air mask was put over his nose and mouth. It looked ridiculously small on him.

Seeing her husband so weak and helpless finally hit her and Emma began to cry. Creed watched her for a moment until his right eye rolled up into his head and he passed out.

ooooooo

The hospital staff were completely amazed when they found out the extent of Creed's healing factor. His eye was trying to regenerate itself but was having a hell of a time while working the tranquilizers through his blood stream. It was still just a pocket of jelly. A nurse had been in to clean and sterilize the socket and mistakenly removed his body's first attempt at rebuilding his left eye, thinking it was pus from an infection.

They had allowed Emma to wash away the blood by herself, only needing help to turn him over in bed and to wash his hair. He was as clean as a sponge bath in bed would allow, but it was an improvement over being soaked in his own blood. She was reading out loud to him when he came to. He fought at the sheets but calmed down when he remembered where he was and what had happened.

"Hey." Emma smiled at him. She sniffed away some tears and approached his bed.

"What the hell did they pump me with?" Creed slurred. She replied that she didn't know and stroked his hair away from his forehead but he snapped his teeth at her so she stopped.

"So they think they know why you've been having your headaches."

"Think?" He was holding his left eyelid shut and looked a bit funny to her.

"They _think_ that a bit of shrapnel was lodged in your brain and was migrating due to your healing factor, trying to get out. It probably caused your nosebleeds and seizure as well."

"Think?"

"And they want to perform surgery to remove any remnants that may remain after the whole MRI debacle."

"_THINK?_" He roared, tired of her pussyfooting around his question.

"Well they can't very well check with an MRI now can they? Besides, they found some metal in your eye socket while cleaning you up, it's probably what made your eye explode." She finally replied.

"So yer tellin' me that they wanna perform BRAIN SURGERY on me because they THINK I might have metal in my head." It wasn't a question. "I'll stick with the headaches, thanks."

"You're already scheduled to go in this afternoon." Emma shook her head at him, not hearing any of it. He did not appreciate her tone and told her as much by slapping her soundly while dragging his claws behind, leaving bleeding scars along her face. Emma fell back into the chair she had been sitting in, holding her face in her hands.

They were both quiet and still. Victor smelled the blood pooling from her wounds. She was slowly healing herself. Usually at this point she would call him an asshole and strike back, however she instead retreated to the washroom and locked the door behind her.

"Emma." He said to the empty room. She wouldn't respond. He meant to get up and rap on the door with his knuckles but found himself handcuffed to the bed railing. The bed came with him as he crossed the room and it made a terrible noise as he dragged it behind him. "Emma." He purred at the door. "Little pig, little pig, let me in."

The door clicked and pushed open violently. Had he not had his sharp senses, he would have been hit in the face. Emma glared at him through her healing claw marks. "You're having the fucking surgery!" Then the door slammed shut once more, leaving him to frown angrily at it.


	8. Chapter 8

Marvel owns the rights to Sabretooth & Birdy, all others are my creation.

Reviews and constructive criticism welcome.

Creed had gone in search of an available washroom when it was apparent that Emma would not be leaving the one in his room any time soon. When he had returned, she was gone. She remained gone while he was briefed by the neuro-surgeon, when he scared away the nurse who had come to shave his head, and while he grumbled to himself as he shaved his own head.

He refused the wheelchair they had brought to his room and stomped after the orderly who showed him the way to the operating room. They asked him to lay down on a gurney and wait in the hallway, Creed only half complied by sitting on it with his legs hanging off the side. He ran his hand over his scalp, he could feel his hair growing back in already, thank goodness.

A nurse commented on the time as the surgery was supposed to start at 3:15pm. It was now 3:17pm. The crowd of doctors and hospital staff who would be in the room with him stood around with a bit of impatience. Finally someone spoke.

"Mr. Creed, do you happen to know where your wife is?" It seems they had all been waiting so that he could see her before the surgery. A normally useless feeling popped up within him, he was touched by their kindness. He shook his head.

"Let's get this dog n' pony show on the road." He replied gruffly but as he lay back on the gurney, worry and a bit of fear curdled his stomach. He realized he wanted to see her, he needed to see her badly, somehow it would tell him that he would be okay. Instead of saying anything however, Creed continued to scowl and let them push him into the operating room to begin.

The anesthesiologist was talking to him but he tuned the woman out. His head was buzzing and he could hear his heart beat rapidly on the monitors, he loathed himself for his fear, and that seemed to calm him down some. A needle was slipped into the crick of his arm and the anesthesiologist nodded to the others as she applied the sedative. They all stood around him with their palms out to maintain sterilization, just staring at him, waiting. It was completely unnerving.

"Cordova, what's the hold up?" One of them, armed with a scalpel, asked from behind his mask to the doctor at his head who was supposed to be drugging him.

"It's not working." She mumbled while fiddling with something out of Creed's vision.

"The drugs aren't working or the machine isn't working?" The first doctor asked with impatience.

"I'm not terribly su—oh my god!" They were all staring at him again with a bit of disgust. All Creed had done was open his left eye.

"Problem doc?" He growled at the arrogant prick standing over him with the knife.

"Your eye seems to have regenerated. It's, um, not the same colour as your other one." Creed still couldn't understand what colour could have shown up that would make them react the way they had. He didn't have much time to think about it as his head was beginning to swim.

"It's going now." He heard the anesthesiologist say from far away. Just as he was slipping away, he saw someone standing above him in some sort of viewing room to the theatre. It was Birdy, and beside her was Emma, bawling her eyes out.

ooooooo

Emma was not particularly squeamish, but she just couldn't watch as the doctors cut into Victor's head and peel back his scalp, saw his skull cap off and then begin to prod through his head with a metal detector. Instead she sat in an uncomfortable chair that faced away from the window of the balcony. She could still hear them, but she only saw Birdy, quietly reading a magazine. She seemed unconcerned.

"I brought your knitting." Birdy looked up, trying to distract her as the saw started up again. "Knit On, with confidence and hope, through all crises." She quoted Elizabeth Zimmermann, which she deemed appropriate at a time like this.

Emma agreed silently and dragged the bag of yarn towards herself. She picked up the gray socks she had been knitting for Victor, a completely thankless task as his feet were so big and he went through socks so quickly. Finding her composure, she knit.

"He's gonna be okay, you know that right?" Birdy asked her. "I mean, hello, healing factor – I've seen him set on fire, and I mean self immolation kinda on fire. He was fine that evening…a bit grumpy, but you know what I mean." That made the other laugh.

There was some mild swearing coming from the operating theatre now. "Speaking of healing factor…" Emma murmured. They both approached the glass to watch the doctors fight Creed's body as it tried to close itself up.

The rest of the operation, all three hours and an extra two to close him up (and shave his head a second time, which was difficult to say the least), passed without incident except for the hourly use of the bone saw. Birdy read Cosmopolitan articles out loud and Emma stitched up the toe of her second sock – amazed that it had only taken her a year to finish them. One of the surgeons interrupted them when he came through the door of the viewing room.

"We managed to find what we hope was all of the shrapnel, and he's healing just fine. We're just going to run some tests and then you should be able to greet him as he wakes up." He made what passed as a smile as Emma exhaled.

As he left, Birdy remarked that she hadn't seen a ring. Not knowing how to respond to that, Emma shook her head and stretched her limbs. The stairs down from the room were treacherous after hours in a seated position so she took them slowly. A nurse swung past them and directed them on to the room where Victor would be after they were finished with him, then continued down the hall.

Birdy mumbled something about getting a coke when she caught sight of the doctor who had just spoken to them, and left Emma alone in the recovery room. She clutched the finished pair of sock to her and waited nervously. As infuriating, annoying, brutish and abusive as he was, she loved Victor Creed.

It wasn't all that long before he was wheeled into the room, still unconscious. The nurses left after hooking him up the some monitoring equipment and Emma found herself at the end of his bed so without much else to do but wait, she put the socks on him. They fit rather well, she was momentarily proud of herself until Creed groaned and his arm moved.

If there was one thing she had learned over the years, it was not to stand over or near him when he was regaining consciousness as he had a tendency to attack without discretion. Emma waited in a chair against the wall, his face turned to her.

There was a cough, a choke, and then his eyes fluttered open. She couldn't help but tilt her head to match his, a puzzled look on her face. They stared at each other in silence.

"What is it already?" Creed asked hoarsely.

"Your left eye…" She stood and walked to his bedside.

"What colour is it?" He cleared his throat.

"It's all black, with a yellow iris."

"Is that all? The way they were lookin' at me in there, I thought I had a cue ball for an eye." He found he couldn't sit up quite yet on his own, but she helped him up. Creed reached out and held her to him tightly but briefly. Then he noticed his feet. "What're those?" He flexed his toes and stretched the fabric.

"I made you socks." She replied while he looked at her incredulously.

"You knit me socks?" Emma responded with a deep kiss despite his terrible sleep breath. When they broke, he gave her a wary look. "Where the hell were you?"

"I couldn't…" Emma shook her head and trailed off.

"Yer such a girl." Creed sneered in feigned disgust, not ready to admit that he had needed her there.

"You're such a jerk."


	9. Epilogue

Marvel owns the rights to Sabretooth & Birdy, all others are my creation.

Reviews and constructive criticism welcome.

As usual, Creed had recovered swiftly and fully, though his eyes were still mismatched. The doctors had seemingly frowned when he had suggested spearing his other eye to get a matching pair. He enjoyed staring down strangers when he was out in public and it didn't take much to make small children cry around him. He had started working again, which made him a happier man to be around when he would come home, much to Birdy and Emma's relief.

The latter was lightly dozing under the covers of the bed. Victor had not come home for dinner from his romp through the woods and Emma was through waiting for him now that his headaches were seemingly resolved. If he was hungry, he could heat up his own damn dinner.

It wasn't a sound that awoke her but a smell. It was wild and refreshing and crisp. A pressure on the bed made her turn but too late, Creed was on top of her, pinning her under the sheets. She had begun to notice the yellow iris turning a tinge green recently, but in the darkness it was hard to see it, all she saw was mismatched glowing. He was feral and excited about something.

"Hey lady, I got some nasty things I wanna do to ya." He purred in a vicious way.

"Will you take a shower first?" She asked calmly already knowing the answer.

End


End file.
